Behavior And Conduct: Grade Levels And Scoring Methods - Essay Example

Behavior And Conduct: Grade Levels And Scoring Methods Abstract This is a position paper that seeks to discuss an assessment instrument used in the arena of education. The paper will also explore test of behavior and conduct, which will entail description of the assessment, grade levels, and scoring methods. The paper will focus on a description of the tool in terms of name, age, as well as the scoring methods. In addition, the rationale for the use of the assessment tool chosen will be discussed in the paper. Moreover, the paper will present the personal position, which will also reflect on the effectiveness, ease of use, validity, and reliability of the tool. The assessment tool to be discussed in this paper will be graded tests. Behavior and Conduct Introduction Assessment entails an ongoing process, which aims at understanding as well as improving the learning of students. It encompasses making expectations public as well as explicit, setting high standards, as well as the appropriate criteria, and interpreting and analyzing evidence. The information resulting from assessment can be used to explain, improve, and document performance. A number of assessment tools can be employed in assessing the learning of students in a course, institutional, as well as the level of the program. Assessment tools can be standardized, which means that they can be widely used. Other tools used in assessment can be developed locally for the purposes of serving certain institutions or programs (Krause, 2009). Discussion Conventional tools, which tend to be traditionally inclined, evaluate the skills that can be performed by students with success. Such tools tend to be knowledge-based, rather than performance based or hands-on tools. The assessment tools used by teachers help in judging the progress, capabilities, as well as the development of the students. Through the use of assessment tools, teachers can be able to know the progress made by the students during the beginning of the year, subject or even semester. It also becomes possible to track the progress of the students and make the teacher informed on whether the students have adequately learned the subject matter (Pennycuick & Murphy, 1988). Tests form an essential category of tools used in the assessment. Tests may include multiple-choice tests, constructed responses, and short answer essays such as those administered to students by schools. As a tool of evaluation, tests tend to incorporate grading, which serves to measure the progress of the student's work. Students are graded according to the scores they achieve in the respective tests they undertake. This helps in knowing the strength or the weaknesses of the students and how the instructors can address these weaknesses. Graded tests can be used in the assessment of 12 year old students in assessing their levels of understanding (Krause, 2009). While using graded tests, the instructor develops the specifications of the test that has to be based on the content that has to be tested. The tests developed should be in line with age and the level of the class attended by the student. In addition, the cognitive level of the test should be consistent with age and the educational requirements of the student. As an assessment tool, graded tests help to test the conduct as well as behavior of the students in their respective grades. The objectives of the test should be weighted by assigning each objective a percentage of the test items. This means that a test covering five equal areas should have twenty percent assigned to each of the objectives (Pennycuick & Murphy, 1988). Graded tests can be regarded as essential in assessment since some tests may place a lot of emphasis on understanding of how knowledge can be applied; in addition, other tests may emphasize on the understanding of factual knowledge. Tests are also timed; this allows examiners to allocate a certain amount of time in which students should complete the examination. This ensures that all students can be able to time themselves and finish the tests within the allowed time. In this essence, instructors tend to allocate more time to tests requiring calculations than the time they allocate to tests that do not need any calculations. This gives students adequate time, which may be needed to complete some calculations that may be complex. Teachers use graded tests as a vital tool in the professional judgment. Through graded tests, it can be easier for teachers to collect and evaluate evidence on the achievement and performance of students over a specified period. This period could be nine weeks, a semester, or a whole year. The grades as well as marks used in graded tests help in summarizing what the students have accomplished over the specified period. The instructor becomes aware of the weaknesses and the strengths of the various students in his or her class. This way, it becomes easy to come up with strategies that will help the weak students develop and improve their academic performance (Pennycuick & Murphy, 1988). The best scoring methods while using graded tests involves finding the percentage of marks scored by the student out of one hundred. The grades are then categorized from the highest to the lowest score and each score assigned a grade. Scores ranging from seventy percent and above should be given a grade of “A” and those ranging from sixty to sixty nine should be given a “B.” The scoring methods can also be categorized by the use of grading curves, where the students who score high marks may tend to occupy the highest point in the curves. Graded tests reveal varying scoring methods as some students score better marks than others. This is because the ability and level of intelligence, as well as academic ability, differs from one student to another. The rationale for using grading in schools is that the graded tests help parents to know how the progress of their children at school. Through graded tests, students benefit upon knowing their performance; thus, they can be able to focus on the areas of weakness and know how they can improve significantly. The use of graded tests in learning helps in regularly checking the learning progress of the students; this stems from the fact that it forms an essential part of successful learning. Most teachers contend that they cannot achieve successful teaching without the use of graded tests in learning (Pennycuick & Murphy, 1988). Another rationale for the use of graded tests in learning stems from their role in finding what students have learned well, the difficulties that they might be having, and the necessary corrective measures that should be undertaken. The process of grading involves an interaction between the students as well as teachers. Thus, through graded tests, the teacher and students can judge the adequacy of the performance students' performance. This implies that the process of assessment through the use of graded tests serves both the evaluative and descriptive purposes (Krause, 2009). The use of graded tests can be regarded as effective, valid, reliable, and easy to use; this stems from the numerous benefits attained from the use of graded tests in learning. First, use of graded tests helps to communicate what the students have achieved to the interested parties and the parents. For instance, graded tests are efficient in offering parents with the description of the achievements made by the students and their adequacy in performance. Tests can also be efficient in providing information to students, which helps in their own self-evaluation. The grades scored by the students help the students to realize the efforts they have made and their progress in class work. Graded tests can be regarded as easy to use since they select, identify, as well as group students for the purposes of certain educational programs and paths. This way, students come to realize what they are proficient at and what they can perfect and undertake as their careers in life. The use of graded tests is also easy to use since they avail the incentives that students need in the learning process (Miltenberger, 2011). Therefore, they can be used as the basis for setting the desired path to undertake in learning. Tests can also be regarded as easy to use since they document the performance of students; this helps in the evaluation of programs that have an instructional component. The reliability of graded tests stems from the fact that they tend to be based on criterion, especially when their aim is to evaluate how well students have mastered certain content. Grades can also be relied on when students want to graduate, or they have the desire to join a professional school. The grades that students score in high school determine whether they will be admitted to college. The reliability of graded tests also stems from the fact that they can be used to reflect the actual performance of students within a specified period. Tests are also reliable since they provide information on how competent the students are at what they have already learned (Miltenberger, 2011). Graded tests can be regarded as a valid tool during the assessment of the performance and progress made by students. The validity of the tool can be attributed to the fact that it avails up-to-date information regarding the performance of students. The assessment tool also reflects the true nature of the performance and progress made by students over a specified period. The results obtained while using graded tests are also accurate, and there is minimal room for error regarding the performance of students (Miltenberger, 2011). References Krause, S. (2009). Assessment Tools: Research and Application in an Extended Learning Program. New York: Martin Luther College. Miltenberger, R. G. (2011). Behavior Modification: Principles and Procedures. London: Cengage Learning. Pennycuick, D. & Murphy, R. (1988). The impact of graded tests. 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